Issue 3 2009

INTERNATIONAL

Pop with Popcorn
Can munching on popcorn help boost male sexual performance?
Apparently its all to do with a nutrient called argonine, which increases blood supply and sperm count. In one report, popcorn is tipped as one of the best foods for increasing fertility, alongside water (?), tomato soup, and the supplement COQ10 (?).
If you want to increase the odds for blockbuster success in the bedroom, then an evening at the cinema shouldn't be overlooked!
Cinema Theatre Association UK Bulletin July/August 2009

AUSTRALASIA

Queensland

CATHS Visits the Regent
To mark the second anniversary of CATHS' Queensland Chapter, 19 people inspected the Regent Brisbane, now leased to Birch Carroll and Coyle.

Dendy Waits For An Exhibitor
The former Dendy/George Brisbane has an adventure travel company using the foyer. The facade has been repainted and includes the company logo. In the old poster showcase a sign says 'Cinemas for rent"

More 3D Screens
Southbank Cinemas are installing two 3D screens.

Expansion At Nerang
At Nerang on the Gold Coast, plans are afoot to build extra screens.

A Drive-in Thats Cool Again
The former Beenleigh Drive-in on the Gold Coast, now the Yatala Drive-in, has survived long enough to be back in favour.
Third generation drive-in operator Peter Sourris said every saturday night cars line up for kilometers to get a spot in front of the big screens.
The Sourris family has run the drive-in since 1974. A few independent operators like themselves held on when the drive-in concept seemed dead, refusing all offers from developers.
Peter Sourris and his brother Stephen took over from their father in 2000 They added a second screen and renamed the venue Yatala. Peter Sourris said it was mainly 16 to 30 year-olds who enjoyed the novelty and relaxed atmosphere of the drive-in.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Changes at Tamworth
Details remain sketchy but it seems that Tamworth has a Capitol again.
This time it is a live theatre, which was actually Cinema 1 of the Forum complex. There is also talk of a new Forum 6 opening in the town. If old Forum is now Capitol, what happened to the older Regent 4? Confused anyone?

Digital Options Continue To Surprise
The Andre Rieu phenomenon doesn't just stop with sell-out concerts and massive DVD sales. Rieu's Sydney concert on 16 October was beamed direct into these cinemas in Victoria: Nova Carlton, Theatre Royal Castlemaine, Classic Elsternwick, Paramount Maryborough and the Sun Yarraville.
State-of-the-art technology doesn't come cheap, although in this instance it doesn't have the price tag that accompanied the opera house transmissions to Australia. Andre Rieu fans paid $43 a ticket.

VICTORIA

Fire Damage At Warrnambool
Fire destroyed one ground floor cinema in Warrnambools's heritage listed Capitol, and damaged two others, in a blaze on 6th August.
Two early morning cleaners had just smelled smoke when they were almost engulfed, forcing a scramble to safety. Screenings were soon transferred to the hall at Brauer College, the former Technical School on Caramut Road, about 4km away. The future of the Capitol depends on an assessment of the building's structural integrity.
The Capitol was designed by prolific cinema architect Charles Bohringer in the late 1920s. It was tripled in 1994, but the downstairs fitout was dismal.
The town is hoping the theatre will be restored, and CATHS is hoping it will also be an opportunity to redress problems.

Screen Worlds Opens at ACMI
Long promised, 'Screen Worlds: The Story of Film, Television and Digital Culture', has opened as a permanent exhibition at the Australian Centre For the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square.
Although a sign informs that it is still a work in progress, it is likely to have wide appeal. Three quarters of the exhibition is taken up with cinema, TV games and digital with all the trappings; a magnet for the young. One quarter is given over to pre and early cinema. Allow yourself two or three visits to take it all in.

From Cinemas to New Leisure
Watching the conversion options for once high-profile cinemas could become a hobby in itself. On Melbourne's Bourke Street, the interior of the former Village City has changed as a $110m re-development to offices and retail nears completion,
Further east, the former Hoyts Cinema Centre is now a Virgin Active Health Club, occupying the full area of the former cinemas.
The centre has a 25 metre indoor pool, spa, a cold plunge pool and saunas. One wall still shows the portholes, a reminder of previous use. Hardest to adjust to is the Virgin logo high on the east and west walls of the most distinctive building in the block.

Nhill Community Theatre Upgrade
This former picture theatre, also design by Charles Bohringer, and renovated in the 1990s to performing arts standard has been upgraded again.
The theatre now boasts the biggest stage of any town between Ballarat and Adelaide. Other improvements include changes to the foyer and acoustics.

A Lifeline For Star Eaglehawk
Running a community theatre, even with volunteers, isn't easy. The Star, in the former Eaglehawk town hall has received a financial boost from the City of Greater Bendigo.
Council agreed to provide and interest free loan of $20,000 to the Association and waive an outstanding rental fee of $18,000.
Esatblished in September 1999, the Star offers independent, and cross-over releases, most of which would not otherwise get screen time in Bendigo.
In an effort to attract a larger audience, The Star Community Cinema Association has developed a marketing partnership with the city's Capital Theatre, which has a well-oiled publicity machine.

Mansfield Tries Community Cinema
When the Mansfield Cinema closed to make way for a supermarket, a not for profit trust raised $350,000 to build and run a 50 seat community cinema within two former squash courts. The cinema is open, but the preferred next step, a liquor licence, seems out of reach.
As the law now stands, the cost of the licence would be the same as for a nightclub; an exhorbitant sum for so small a venture, Some tinkering with the legislation is surely needed.

The Shaft Deflates
The Shaft porn cinema and strip show in Swanston Street closed on 20th September. Although probably dismissed by CATHS members as a venue unworthy of the name 'cinema' such establishments are part of our social history.
The Shaft operated for some 32 years, but could not compete with 'advances' in porn technology. Two similar venues continue to operate in the Melbourne CBD.

TASMANIA

The Ghost Goes Wild
The Princess Launceston, like many theatres, has a ghost story or two, but this time the ghost seemed to be loose on the street. Car owners who parked anywhere near the building often couldn't start them again, yet parking and restarting elsewhere in the city was no problem.
A remote control expert had the answer, and it wasn't a poltergeist.
Underground near the Princess, a power cable junction was emitting high levels of electromagnetic radiation, jamming the remotes.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

No Heritage Protection For Glenelg Cinema
In a setback to the Holdfast Bay Council which wanted the former Ozone, later Wallis Cinemas preserved, the Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH) judged that the 72 year-old building did not warrant listing.
The Wallis Group closed the cinema in February 2009 and is still exploring options for the site. Wallis has council permission to either convert the building into mixed restaurant/office space or, if conversion is not feasible, to demolish it.
Wallis spokesman Philip Roberts said that the company ".. will make a full investigation of all the relevant options and decide which is best for it".
A DEH spokeswoman said that although the building was the first Art Deco cinema built in Adelaide, many of its significant features had been lost. Changes had compromised the extent to which the theatre could be said to represent an Art Deco cinema. Guardian Messenger 16th August 2009

Chelsea Sale Protests Continue
In a last ditch attempt to stall or overturn the Burnside Council decision to sell the single screen Chelsea, the "Save The Chelsea Cinema Action Group" meeting on October 12th heard a strong case for council to retain ownership.
A Wallis Cinemas spokesperson said that the company remains prepared to honour the original agreement: if the council was to build screens on adjacent land, Wallis would run the cinemas, and retain the original as a single screen.
Previously, councillors sympathetic to CCAG, had put to council that some motions passed in earlier meetings relating to the sale should have been declared invalid, based on legal advice.
Since this process had not been followed, they argued, the legality of any sale was now questionable. A motion to abandon the sale for this reason failed; four councillors voted in favour, six voted against and two were absent.
Meanwhile, Burnside Council will conduct a study to see how much fundraising money community groups will lose if there is no Chelsea cinema. One view is that, regardless of the study, it is unlikely to hold up the sale process.
A packed hall unanimously supported a motion demanding that council defer any sale until after November 2010 - the date of the next council election.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Multiplex For Rockingham
West Australian-owned Ace Cinemas has opened a 'state-of-the-art' multiplex at Rockingham, a southern Perth coastal suburb.
Located in the main shopping centre, the complex has eight cinemas, including two fully-licenced Cine Gold Lounges. Ace Cinemas' managing director David Pye said that digital technology and luxury surrounds were the future for the family company, which had been in business for 50 years.

A Rejuvenated Astor
The Astor in inner-suburban Mount Lawley (CR61) has new management and a new life.
The smaller 90-seat cinema now screens themed double features, while work on the main auditorium will equip it for live concerts. Refurbishments include a liquor licence, new lighting rig, sound upgrades and a retractable screen which allows conversion from cinema to concert mode in half an hour.

NEW ZEALAND

Hawera's Cinema 2 Closed
South Taranaki council's decision to buy a cinema on behalf of the ratepayers has come to grief. The complex was haemorrhaging money and ratepayers were footing the bill.
The council bought the cinema two years ago for $NZ1m on the basis it would be run independently and return a profit. To date no profit, only debt.

New Cinema For Hamilton
Kiwi Income Property Trust has built a new cinema in the Centre Place retail complex. Auckland cinema owner Richard Dalton has the lease and plans a boutique venue - the Lido - seating 320 people. It will offer hand-rolled ice-creams, wine and coffee. The venue was close to finished in September and should be open now.

Hoyts Leave Wellington
Hoyts final exit came on Wednesday 19th August with the closure of the Regent on Manners - originally Hoyts Five Manners Mall.
The complex had been losing money since Reading opened Courtenay Central in 2002.
The building's owners intend turning the site into shops, with apartments above. On a personal note this change brings to an end my (David Lascelles) 28-year association with Amalgamated Theatres, and later Hoyts.

Arthouse at Courtenay Central
Reading Cinemas, a company initially cool to any arthouse product, have seen the light. From September 24th, their huge Courtenay Central location will show two such films a week, under the umbrella of Reading's Angelika Films.
The effect on other arthouse cinemas such as the Paramount across the road, or Brooklyn's Penthouse, is likely to be minimal.

Looking For A Way Out
Reading's under-performing four-screen complex at Paraparaumu has been the subject of discussions with Downtown Cinemas of Palmerston North, the company that recently assumed control of the Paramount Wellington.
Reading management apparently believes that the Downtown group has the mojo to make Paraparaumu work. Downtown executives are making no comment.

Reporting by:
Steve Maggs and Peter Wolfenden (Qld)
Les Todd (NSW
Ross King and Colin Flint (Vic)
Ray Peck (Tas)
Colin Flint (SA)
Peter Jackson (WA)
David Lascelles (NZ)